Yesterday 06:40 PM
PETER ZEIHAN
https://youtu.be/1rsdHTjYJsc
VIDEO EXCERPTS: Today we're taking a question [...] from one of our friends down in Australia, wondering if it would be possible for Australia to recreate the sort of energy complex that the United States has. Courtesy of the shale revolution, the United States is now just a gross over-producer of both oil and natural gas.
It's driven down energy costs in the country, especially electricity costs, which are now among the lowest in the world. And it's generated a robust processing and manufacturing system with downstream work. And a significant export industry.
Australia, having a smaller population but almost as much land, could they do it? I don't want to say no, but there are some things you have to keep in mind. Number one, geology is just the first step. So in order to have a shale industry, you have to have a lot of sedimentary layers that are petroleum bearing at just the right age to generate oil and natural gas.
And the United States has that because in the past, the North American continent, especially our part of it, has had a series of shallow seas. And then geology would change, and then you'd get another shallow sea. And you basically got these stacked layers, so you can drill down and hit multiple petroleum producing zones...
[...] Now, with shale technology, you go down until you hit that layer, and then you go horizontally. And that brings us to the second thing you need, water. The way shale works, is you make this suspension of water and sand, and that is pumped into the lateral through a series of holes that basically crack the rock open and release the petroleum. And then back pressure pushes all the liquid out, and eventually oil and natural gas comes to the surface. You don't have to pump this stuff.
But you have to have the water to do it. And part of that folds into the third issue, which is proximity. You have to have relative proximity for your oil and natural gas production to population centers or places that can take this stuff for processing. And in this, the United States is pretty good...
[...] Australia's problem is that most of the geology that looks promising is in the outback. So not only is it a long ways away from any potential population centers, you're in the middle of a literal desert. So the water access is more difficult. You can access groundwater. That's done in the United States, too. But all of these things incrementally raise the cost of development. Let's see. What else? Regulatory structure. This is one where a lot of countries trip up...
Can anyone replicate the US shale revolution? ... https://youtu.be/1rsdHTjYJsc
https://youtu.be/1rsdHTjYJsc
VIDEO EXCERPTS: Today we're taking a question [...] from one of our friends down in Australia, wondering if it would be possible for Australia to recreate the sort of energy complex that the United States has. Courtesy of the shale revolution, the United States is now just a gross over-producer of both oil and natural gas.
It's driven down energy costs in the country, especially electricity costs, which are now among the lowest in the world. And it's generated a robust processing and manufacturing system with downstream work. And a significant export industry.
Australia, having a smaller population but almost as much land, could they do it? I don't want to say no, but there are some things you have to keep in mind. Number one, geology is just the first step. So in order to have a shale industry, you have to have a lot of sedimentary layers that are petroleum bearing at just the right age to generate oil and natural gas.
And the United States has that because in the past, the North American continent, especially our part of it, has had a series of shallow seas. And then geology would change, and then you'd get another shallow sea. And you basically got these stacked layers, so you can drill down and hit multiple petroleum producing zones...
[...] Now, with shale technology, you go down until you hit that layer, and then you go horizontally. And that brings us to the second thing you need, water. The way shale works, is you make this suspension of water and sand, and that is pumped into the lateral through a series of holes that basically crack the rock open and release the petroleum. And then back pressure pushes all the liquid out, and eventually oil and natural gas comes to the surface. You don't have to pump this stuff.
But you have to have the water to do it. And part of that folds into the third issue, which is proximity. You have to have relative proximity for your oil and natural gas production to population centers or places that can take this stuff for processing. And in this, the United States is pretty good...
[...] Australia's problem is that most of the geology that looks promising is in the outback. So not only is it a long ways away from any potential population centers, you're in the middle of a literal desert. So the water access is more difficult. You can access groundwater. That's done in the United States, too. But all of these things incrementally raise the cost of development. Let's see. What else? Regulatory structure. This is one where a lot of countries trip up...
Can anyone replicate the US shale revolution? ... https://youtu.be/1rsdHTjYJsc